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| Preface.
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Preface.
The history of the Old
Testament tells us that the most wise Solomon received from heaven
“wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart
even as the sand that is on the seashore that cannot be
counted;”629
so that by the
Lord’s testimony we may say that no one either has arisen in time
past equal to him or will arise after him: and afterward, when wishing
to raise that magnificent temple to the Lord, we are told that he asked
the help of a foreigner, the king of Tyre. And when there was sent to
him one Hiram, the son of a widow woman,630
it
was by his means and ministration that he executed all the glorious
things which he devised by the suggestion of the Divine wisdom either
for the temple of the Lord or for the sacred vessels. If, then, that
power that was higher than all the kingdoms of the earth, and that
noble and illustrious scion of the race of Israel, and that divinely
inspired wisdom which excelled the training and customs of all the
Easterns and Egyptians, by no means disdained the advice of a poor man
and a foreigner, rightly also do you, most blessed Pope631
| 631 Papa. The
title was at an early period confined to bishops in the West, but was
not limited to the Bishop of Rome till a later date. | Castor, taught by these examples, deign to
call in me, a worthless creature though I am, and in every respect as
poor as possible, to a share in so great a work. When you are planning
to build a true and reasonable temple for God, not with inanimate
stones but with a congregation of saints, and no temporal or
corruptible building, but one that is eternal and cannot be shaken; and
desiring also to consecrate to the Lord most precious vessels not
forged of dumb632
| 632
Petschenig’s text reads muto. Another reading is
multo. | metal, of gold or
silver, which a Babylonish monarch may afterwards take and devote to
the pleasures of his concubines and princes,633
but fashioned of holy souls which shine with the uprightness of
innocence, righteousness, and purity, and bear about Christ abiding in
themselves as King;—since, then, you are anxious that the
institutions of the East and especially of Egypt should be established
in your province, which is at present without monasteries,634
| 634 Castor, at whose
request this work was written, was Bishop of Apta Julia in Gallia
Narbonensis. | although you are yourself perfect in all
virtues and knowledge and so filled with all spiritual riches that not
only your talk but even your life alone is amply sufficient for an
example to those who are seeking perfection,—yet you ask me, not
knowing what to say, and feeble in speech and knowledge, to contribute
something from the scanty supply of my thoughts toward the satisfaction
of your desire; and you charge me to declare, although with inexpert
pen, the customs of the monasteries which we have seen observed
throughout Egypt and Palestine, as they were there delivered to us by
the Fathers; not looking for graceful speech, in which you yourself are
especially skilled, but wanting the simple life of holy men to be told
in simple language to the brethren in your new monastery. But in
proportion as a dutiful desire of granting your request urges me to
obey, so do manifold difficulties and embarrassments deter me when
wishing to comply. First, because my merits are not so proportioned to
my age as for me to trust that I can worthily comprehend with my mind
and heart matters so difficult, so obscure, and so sacred. Secondly,
because that which we either tried to do or learnt or saw when from our
earliest youth we lived among them and were urged on by their daily
exhortations and examples,—this we can scarcely retain in its
entirety when we have been for so many years withdrawn from intercourse
with them and from following their mode of life; especially as the
method of these things cannot possibly be taught or understood or kept
in the memory by idle meditation and verbal teaching, for it depends
entirely upon experience and practice. And, as these things cannot be
taught save by one
who
has had experience of them, so they cannot even be learnt or understood
except by one who has tried with equal care and pains to grasp them;
while, unless they are often discussed and well worn in frequent
conferences with spiritual men, they quickly fade away through
carelessness of mind. Thirdly, because a discourse that is lacking in
skill cannot properly expound those things which we can recall to mind,
not as the things themselves deserve, but as our condition allows us.
To this it must be added that on this very subject men who were noble
in life and eminent for speech and knowledge have already put forth
several little books, I mean Basil and Jerome, and some others, the
former of whom, when the brethren asked about various rules and
questions, replied in language that was not only eloquent but rich in
testimonies from Holy Scripture; while the latter not only published
works that were the offspring of his own genius, but also translated
into Latin works that had been written in Greek.635
| 635 The reference is to
Basil’s ὅροι κατὰ
πλάτος (the greater monastic
rules), and ὅροι κατὰ
ἐπιτομήν (the lesser
rules), written in the form of answers to questions of the monks.
Jerome translated the rule of Pachomius, besides writing the lives of
the hermits Paul, Malchus, and Hilarion. | And, after such abundant streams of
eloquence, I might not unfairly be accused of presumption for trying to
produce this feeble rill, were it not that the confidence of your
holiness encouraged me, and the assurance that these trifles would be
acceptable to you, whatever they were like, and that you would send
them to the congregation of the brethren dwelling in your newly founded
monastery. And if by chance I have said anything without sufficient
care, may they kindly overlook it and endure it with a somewhat
indulgent pardon, asking rather for trustworthiness of speech than for
grace of style on my part. Wherefore, most blessed Pope, remarkable
example of religion and humility, encouraged by your prayers, I will to
the best of my ability approach the work which you enjoin; and those
masters which were altogether left untouched by those who preceded us,
since they endeavoured to describe what they had heard rather than what
they had experienced, these things I will tell as to an inexperienced
monastery, and to men who are indeed636
| 636 in
veritate. Another reading is veritatem. | athirst. Nor
certainly shall I try to weave a tale of God’s miracles and
signs, although we have not only heard of many such among our elders,
and those past belief, but have also seen them fulfilled under our very
eyes; yet, leaving out all these things which minister to the reader
nothing but astonishment and no instruction in the perfect life, I
shall try, so far as I can, with the help of God, faithfully to explain
only their institutions and the rules of their monasteries, and
especially the origin and causes of the principal faults, of which they
reckon eight, and the remedies for them according to their
traditions,—since my purpose is to say a few words not about
God’s miracles, but about the way to improve our character, and
the attainment of the perfect life, in accordance with that which we
received from our elders. In this, too, I will try to satisfy your
directions, so that, if I happen to find that anything has been either
withdrawn or added in those countries not in accordance with the
example of the elders established by ancient custom, but according to
the fancy of any one who has founded a monastery, I will faithfully add
it or omit it, in accordance with the rule which I have seen followed
in the monasteries anciently founded throughout Egypt and Palestine, as
I do not believe that a new establishment in the West, in the parts of
Gaul could find anything more reasonable or more perfect than are those
customs, in the observance of which the monasteries that have been
founded by holy and spiritually minded fathers since the rise of
apostolic preaching endure even to our own times. I shall, however,
venture to exercise this discretion in my work,—that where I find
anything in the rule of the Egyptians which, either because of the
severity of the climate, or owing to some difficulty or diversity of
habits, is impossible in these countries, or hard and difficult, I
shall to some extent balance it by the customs of the monasteries which
are found throughout Pontus and Mesopotamia; because, if due regard be
paid to what things are possible, there is the same perfection in the
observance although the power may be unequal.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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